News

Darfur: President Al-Bashir's visit to Ethiopia and Op-Eds The Economist, New York Times.com

24 Apr 2009

Dear all,

This is the first of a three-part message on the International Criminal Court's investigation in Darfur, Sudan.

This message contains information on President Al -Bashir's visit to Ethiopia and opinion articles from The Economist, a New York Times.com editorial by Elise Keppler of Human Rights Watch, and others.

We encourage you to participate in our blog discussion on Darfur by visiting www.coalitionfortheicc.org/ blog

Please take note of the Coalition's policy on situations before the ICC (below), which explicitly states that the CICC will not take a position on potential and current situations before the Court or situations under analysis. The Coalition, however, will continue to provide the most up-to-date information about the ICC.

Regards,

CICC Secretariat
[email protected]
***********************

I. AL-BASHIR DEFIES THE COURT: VISIT TO ETHIOPIA

i. "Sudan president says he will travel to the US if invited," Sudan Tribune, 5 April 2009, http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article30780

"The embattled Sudanese president Omer Hassan said today that he will travel for the annual UN General Assembly summit in New York if invited.

'If I am invited by the UN to attend in New York I will attend and nothing prevents me from doing so' Al-Bashir told the Sudanese satellite TV.

...Despite speculations about Bashir being a prisoner in his own country he managed to travel to more than half a dozen countries in the region even though they were not announced beforehand and none were members of the ICC with an obligation to apprehend him.

... Bashir said today his decision to travel to Qatar was a decision 'he took and executed.'

'It was a message to the Western world that Sudan will not be isolated' Bashir said and revealed that he turned out a Qatari and Libyan proposal that the summit be held in Khartoum...."

ii. "Sudanese President to visit Ethiopia next week," Sudan Tribune, 18 April 2009,
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article30916

"Sudanese President Omer Hassan Al-Bashir will travel next week to Addis Ababa to take part in a joint meeting between the two neighboring countries, the Ethiopian foreign ministry said on Saturday.

The International criminal Court (ICC) on March 4 issued an arrest warrant for President Al-Bashir on war crimes and crimes against humanity. However defying the decision, he visited Eritrea, Egypt and Libya before to attend the Arab summit in Qatar...."

iii. "Embattled al-Bashir visits Ethiopia," UPI, 21 April 2009, http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/04/21/Embattled-al-Bashir-visits-Ethiopia/UPI-63141240326542/

"Despite being named in an international arrest warrant for war crimes, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir made a state visit to neighboring Ethiopia Tuesday.

Ethiopia's Ministry of Information said al-Bashir had a 'routine' visit with the country's foreign minister in Addis Ababa, CNN reported.

Neither Ethiopia nor Sudan are members of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which issued the arrest warrant for al-Bashir on March 4. A month later, al-Bashir traveled to Qatar for an Arab League summit, the report said...."

iv. "Ethiopia Gives Sudan's Bashir Warm Welcome," Voice of America, 21 April 2009, http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-04-21-voa25.cfm

"Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has received a warm welcome on his arrival in neighboring Ethiopia for a two-day state visit. VOA's Peter Heinlein in Addis Ababa reports Ethiopian and other African officials greeted Mr. Bashir with full honors, while most western diplomats are boycotting the event.

Reporters were kept away from airport ceremonies where Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi welcomed Mr. Bashir for a meeting of the Ethiopia-Sudan High Level Joint Commission...."

v. "Western diplomats boycott Bashir state dinner in Ethiopia," by Dialy Nation, 22 April 2009, http://www.ethiopianreview.com/news/2009/04/western-diplomats-boycott-bashir-state-dinner-in-ethiopia/

"Western diplomats based in one of the world's largest diplomatic hubs, Addis Ababa boycotted a dinner party organized by the Ethiopian government to honor Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir.

President al-Bashir had received a warm welcome from his Ethiopian hosts on his arrival in Addis Ababa on Tuesday morning for his two-day official visit.

.... China, Venezuela Cuba and North Korean ambassadors joined their African counterparts at the airport to welcome President al-Bashir.

Hundreds of Sudanese living in Ethiopia warmly welcomed the president both at the airport and at a separate party.

The Ethiopian regime hosted a lavish state dinner in honor of President al-Bashir on Tuesday evening. Though invited, US and many European diplomats boycotted the state dinner in protest against ad-Bashir whose arrest is sought by the International Criminal court over alleged abuse in Sudan's Western Darfur region. One Western diplomat told the Nation in Addis Ababa: 'It's not fair to sit for a dinner with a criminal'.

During a joint press conference with Mr Meles, President Bashir dismissed the notion that the arrest warrant could restrict him from traveling...."

See also:

a. "Sudan leader in Ethiopia despite genocide warrant," AP, 21 April 2009, http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jU2WBriNTzZ3hlcNUXkdjONJaFfQD97MOVBG0

b. "Sudan: Ethiopia Respects Words to Welcome Al-Bashir Ethio-Sudan Joint Meeting Being Held," Dialy Monitor, 22 April 2009, http://allafrica.com/stories/200904220115.html

c. "Sudan's Beshir defies world over arrest warrant," AFP, 21 April 2009, http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090421/wl_africa_afp/sudanconflictdarfurwarcrimesbeshirethiopia5thlead

d. "Sudan's president arrives in Ethiopia amid Western boycott," Sudan Tribune, 21 April 2009,
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article30957

II. OPINION ARTICLES

i."Time ripe for ICC to flex its muscle," by Henry Owuor for Dialy Nation, 6 April 2009, http://www.nation.co.ke/InDepth/-/452898/557604/-/trdqj8z/-/

"Having started its first trial of a war crimes suspect just two months ago, the International Criminal Court is rather young.

.... So far, it has issued 13 warrants of arrest but has only four suspects in its cells while seven remain free. All the suspects in ICC cells are from Africa. They are Thomas Lubanga, Germain Katanga, Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, Jean Pierre Bemba and ex-Liberian President Charles Taylor, who is being tried under the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

Among the most prominent suspects still on the loose is Uganda's Joseph Kony and Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

President Bashir, whose warrant was issued on March 4, 2009 over war crimes in Darfur, may prove to be the court's main Achilles heel.

Since the warrant was issued, Bashir has visited five countries; Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Four major global organisations: the Arab League, the African Union, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, and the Non-Aligned Movement are all against the Bashir warrant. In diplomatic terms, the UN Security Council cannot ignore even one of these organisations.

The worst scenario would arise if any of these groupings passes a resolution calling on their members to quit the ICC. In the Security Council, China and Russia have come out openly on the side of Sudan while France, Britain and the US want the warrant carried out...."

ii."The Arab League and the ICC," Foreign Policy Association by Patrick Vibert, 5 April 2009, http://lebanon.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/04/05/bashir-assad-the-arab-league-and-the-icc/

"During the 2009 Arab League summit in Doha last weekend, there was much clamor made in support of Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir and his continued defiance of an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant in his name. Bashir is wanted by the ICC for his alleged role in the genocide taking place in the Darfur region of Sudan. He has been linked to the Janjaweed militia forces committing the atrocities there and has refused to disarm them.

..... Even if Mr. Bashir didn't give the orders for what has taken place there, it is still a disgusting way to run a country. Mr. Bashir has expressed no regret and has taken no responsibility for what is happening.

This past week, Bashir travelled to Saudi Arabia to visit the holy city of Mecca in continued defiance of the ICC. The fact that he is even accepted by Saudi Arabia seems insulting to Islam's most holy city, and to the religion itself. Saudi officials must have considered this before granting him a visa, which makes his presence there even more alarming.

At Doha, the Arab League tried to display a unified front, together questioning the ICC's credibility and jurisdiction. And they have a point.

..... The court is not perfect. First and foremost, it lacks enforcement capabilities. The court may issue warrants, but must wait until the accused is arrested in a country that has ratified the Rome Statute, of which many nations- including the United States and Israel- are not a party to. The court cannot issue a warrant and then just send the 'ICC Police' to make an arrest anywhere on the planet, and whisk the accused back to The Hague for trial...."

iii. "Hold the Line on Bashir" by Elise Keppler (New York Times Online), 8 April 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/opinion/09iht-edlet.html?hpw

"President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan has crisscrossed the Arab and African world recently in a bald-faced attempt to show strength after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

He chose Egypt, Eritrea and Libya as his first ports of call, then made his way to Qatar for the Arab League summit. These countries are among the minority of the world's nations that have not joined the International Criminal Court. Unlike the close to 110 that have joined, these governments have no legal obligation to arrest him on the court's behalf. They would do well to remember, though, that the Security Council has expressly urged even states that are not part of the court to cooperate.

These countries and others that might open their doors Bashir might want to reconsider. Not only is he an accused war criminal, but in retaliation for the warrant, his government threatened the lives of Sudan's most vulnerable.

Within hours after the I.C.C. announced its warrant, 13 key relief organizations that were supplying food and water to 1.1 million people and medical care to 1.5 million were ousted from Sudan. Bashir is not someone who should be welcomed, but someone who should be held to account.

We can expect that someday he will face trial. When former presidents Charles Taylor of Liberia and Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia were indicted for war crimes while sitting as heads of states, nobody expected to see them in court. But that is what happened. International justice has increasingly shown that no one is above the law.

The U.N. Security Council could suspend his case, but suspension will only encourage further abuses...."

iv. "There's more to Sudan than Darfur," Citizen Times, by Khalid Mustafa Medani, 10 April 2009,
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200990402091

"A mere three weeks after the International Criminal Court indicted him on charges of war crimes committed in Darfur, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir embarked on official state visits to Eritrea, Egypt and Libya in open defiance of the court. The trips highlighted what most observers knew; it is unlikely that the Sudanese president will be taken into custody anytime soon.

The court's decision to pursue a war crimes trial against a current head of state is an important historical precedent for the cause of international justice and a symbolic victory for the people of Darfur. But the problem for Sudan, and for the people of Darfur, is much larger than the president. Even trial and punishment for President Bashir would not temper the authoritarian nature of the Sudanese regime or halt the horrific violence against the Darfuri people. What is needed is vigorous international diplomacy to boost the prospects of clean general elections in 2009.

..... Understandably, the human tragedy of Darfur has eclipsed nearly all else in Sudanese affairs, and it may sound odd to speak of elections when the ruling party has monopolized political power for nearly two decades. One should not, however, underestimate the vibrancy and resiliency of democratic forces in Sudan. There are a number of popular opposition parties planning to vie for control of Parliament, including a range of Darfur-based parties. The ruling party of Omar al-Bashir will certainly win a majority in the next assembly, but the coalition in opposition could be considerably strengthened if regime vote-rigging efforts are kept to a minimum.

....The court's warrant for Bashir's arrest will have little effect in resolving the larger problem in Sudan: the lack of participatory politics. Only if this warrant is followed by a concerted effort to support free and fair elections will it fulfill its promise...."

v. "Fear of fragmentation: A recent fragile peace is under threat," The Economist, 8 April 2009, http://www.economist.com/world/mideast-africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13447413&fsrc=rss

"Hundreds of women and children were killed last month in Southern Sudan's province of Jonglei, either shot or run through with spears. Some locals put the toll at more than 700. Officials in Juba, the capital of the largely autonomous region of Southern Sudan, say the figure was lower. In any event, a fresh spate of killing now threatens the broad peace that the region has been enjoying-and could even upset the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, signed in 2005 between Sudan's mainly Arab government in Khartoum and rebels in the black African south who had waged a war of independence for most of the previous three decades.

At first it seemed the killings were the result of routine cattle raids by Nuer warriors on the Murle, whom the Nuer accused of rustling thousands of cattle. Such raids usually end in a handful of deaths on either side. But the scale of the Jonglei killings, with the Nuer apparently riddling civilians with gunfire from weapons they were meant to have given up, has cast a pall of gloom over the south. It has not been lightened by the failure of the local Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) to intervene. There have been killings elsewhere in the south too. Some fear the north-south accord is near to collapse.

...[Southern Sudan's president, Salva Kiir, who is Sudan's national vice-president too] Mr Kiir wants to stamp out 'tribal spoilers' before national elections next year. Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, who was recently indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague for alleged crimes in Darfur, is nervous about the possibility of Mr Kiir running as a candidate for the national presidency, appealing to voters even in the Arab bits of the country. Mr Kiir has so far been careful not to voice an opinion on the ICC warrant but may try to use it to squeeze concessions from the north-on oil and the Nile waters, among other things-before a referendum in 2011, when the Southern Sudanese will be asked if they want to secede from Sudan to form an independent country, probably to be called New Sudan.

This may put Barack Obama's administration on the spot. American lobbies have concentrated on Darfur, largely to the exclusion of Southern Sudan. A policy review headed by Samantha Power, one of Mr Obama's foreign-policy advisers, may be hard on Mr Kiir even as it endorses the ICC's effort to bring Mr Bashir to justice...."

vi. "ICC has a moral duty to prosecute Bashir," by Dawn Nagar (IOL South Africa), 19 April 2009,
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=136&art_id=vn20090419103844129C601739

"A leader of government is elected by its people to ensure the growth and protection of the nation. The warrant that has been issued by the International Criminal Court for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in connection with the grave injustices that have been committed against his people, particularly in the Darfur region, where an estimated 300 000 people have been killed since 2003, should therefore come as no surprise.

Peacemaking is not the job of the ICC, an international body established in the Hague in 2002 with a responsibility to protect victims of, and to prosecute perpetrators of, crimes against humanity. Its existence is based on that of a prosecutorial authority tasked with acting to deal with those who commit war crimes, and to prosecute those who condone genocide.

As al-Bashir now stands accused, after 19 years as leader of a Jihadist government in Khartoum, of condoning the killing of civilians in Darfur, the ICC - through its Argentinean chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo - has exercised its moral duty to intervene. Since Sudan has not ratified the ICC's founding Rome Statute, it can be argued that the body has no business investigating war crimes in that country.

However, article 13b of the Rome Statute indicates that, in cases in which war crimes appear to have been committed, they can be referred to the prosecutor by the UN Security Council...."

**************************

CICC's policy on the referral and prosecution of situations before the ICC:

The Coalition for the ICC is not an organ of the court. The CICC is an independent NGO movement dedicated to the establishment of the International Criminal Court as a fair, effective, and independent international organization.
The Coalition will continue to provide the most up-to-date information about the ICC and to help coordinate global action to effectively implement the Rome Statute of the ICC. The Coalition will also endeavor to respond to basic queries and to raise awareness about the ICC's trigger mechanisms and procedures, as they develop. The Coalition as a whole, and its secretariat, do not endorse or promote specific investigations or prosecutions or take a position on situations before the ICC. However, individual CICC members may endorse referrals, provide legal and other support on investigations, or develop partnerships with local and other organizations in the course of their efforts.
Communications to the ICC can be sent to:
ICC
P.O. box 19519
2500 CM the Hague
The Netherlands

English \|Espa�ol \|Fran�ais \|Arabic \|Browse documents by other languages Follow Us:


News Browse by Region Media Digests Country Updates UN Excerpts on the ICC Updates of the Assembly Browse by Region		Darfur: President Al-Bashir's visit to Ethiopia and Op-Eds The Economist, New York Times.com 24 Apr 2009 Dear all, This is the first of a three-part message on the International Criminal Court's investigation in Darfur, Sudan. This message contains information on President Al -Bashir's visit to Ethiopia and opinion articles from The Economist, a New York Times.com editorial by Elise Keppler of Human Rights Watch, and others. We encourage you to participate in our blog discussion on Darfur by visiting www.coalitionfortheicc.org/ blog Please take note of the Coalition's policy on situations before the ICC (below), which explicitly states that the CICC will not take a position on potential and current situations before the Court or situations under analysis. The Coalition, however, will continue to provide the most up-to-date information about the ICC. Regards, CICC Secretariat [email protected] ********************* I. AL-BASHIR DEFIES THE COURT: VISIT TO ETHIOPIA i. "Sudan president says he will travel to the US if invited," Sudan Tribune, 5 April 2009, http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article30780 "The embattled Sudanese president Omer Hassan said today that he will travel for the annual UN General Assembly summit in New York if invited. 'If I am invited by the UN to attend in New York I will attend and nothing prevents me from doing so' Al-Bashir told the Sudanese satellite TV. ...Despite speculations about Bashir being a prisoner in his own country he managed to travel to more than half a dozen countries in the region even though they were not announced beforehand and none were members of the ICC with an obligation to apprehend him. ... Bashir said today his decision to travel to Qatar was a decision 'he took and executed.' 'It was a message to the Western world that Sudan will not be isolated' Bashir said and revealed that he turned out a Qatari and Libyan proposal that the summit be held in Khartoum...." ii. "Sudanese President to visit Ethiopia next week," Sudan Tribune, 18 April 2009, http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article30916 "Sudanese President Omer Hassan Al-Bashir will travel next week to Addis Ababa to take part in a joint meeting between the two neighboring countries, the Ethiopian foreign ministry said on Saturday. The International criminal Court (ICC) on March 4 issued an arrest warrant for President Al-Bashir on war crimes and crimes against humanity. However defying the decision, he visited Eritrea, Egypt and Libya before to attend the Arab summit in Qatar...." iii. "Embattled al-Bashir visits Ethiopia," UPI, 21 April 2009, http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/04/21/Embattled-al-Bashir-visits-Ethiopia/UPI-63141240326542/ "Despite being named in an international arrest warrant for war crimes, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir made a state visit to neighboring Ethiopia Tuesday. Ethiopia's Ministry of Information said al-Bashir had a 'routine' visit with the country's foreign minister in Addis Ababa, CNN reported. Neither Ethiopia nor Sudan are members of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which issued the arrest warrant for al-Bashir on March 4. A month later, al-Bashir traveled to Qatar for an Arab League summit, the report said...." iv. "Ethiopia Gives Sudan's Bashir Warm Welcome," Voice of America, 21 April 2009, http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-04-21-voa25.cfm "Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has received a warm welcome on his arrival in neighboring Ethiopia for a two-day state visit. VOA's Peter Heinlein in Addis Ababa reports Ethiopian and other African officials greeted Mr. Bashir with full honors, while most western diplomats are boycotting the event. Reporters were kept away from airport ceremonies where Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi welcomed Mr. Bashir for a meeting of the Ethiopia-Sudan High Level Joint Commission...." v. "Western diplomats boycott Bashir state dinner in Ethiopia," by Dialy Nation, 22 April 2009, http://www.ethiopianreview.com/news/2009/04/western-diplomats-boycott-bashir-state-dinner-in-ethiopia/ "Western diplomats based in one of the world's largest diplomatic hubs, Addis Ababa boycotted a dinner party organized by the Ethiopian government to honor Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir. President al-Bashir had received a warm welcome from his Ethiopian hosts on his arrival in Addis Ababa on Tuesday morning for his two-day official visit. .... China, Venezuela Cuba and North Korean ambassadors joined their African counterparts at the airport to welcome President al-Bashir. Hundreds of Sudanese living in Ethiopia warmly welcomed the president both at the airport and at a separate party. The Ethiopian regime hosted a lavish state dinner in honor of President al-Bashir on Tuesday evening. Though invited, US and many European diplomats boycotted the state dinner in protest against ad-Bashir whose arrest is sought by the International Criminal court over alleged abuse in Sudan's Western Darfur region. One Western diplomat told the Nation in Addis Ababa: 'It's not fair to sit for a dinner with a criminal'. During a joint press conference with Mr Meles, President Bashir dismissed the notion that the arrest warrant could restrict him from traveling...." See also: a. "Sudan leader in Ethiopia despite genocide warrant," AP, 21 April 2009, http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jU2WBriNTzZ3hlcNUXkdjONJaFfQD97MOVBG0 b. "Sudan: Ethiopia Respects Words to Welcome Al-Bashir Ethio-Sudan Joint Meeting Being Held," Dialy Monitor, 22 April 2009, http://allafrica.com/stories/200904220115.html c. "Sudan's Beshir defies world over arrest warrant," AFP, 21 April 2009, http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090421/wl_africa_afp/sudanconflictdarfurwarcrimesbeshirethiopia5thlead d. "Sudan's president arrives in Ethiopia amid Western boycott," Sudan Tribune, 21 April 2009, http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article30957 II. OPINION ARTICLES i."Time ripe for ICC to flex its muscle," by Henry Owuor for Dialy Nation, 6 April 2009, http://www.nation.co.ke/InDepth/-/452898/557604/-/trdqj8z/-/ "Having started its first trial of a war crimes suspect just two months ago, the International Criminal Court is rather young. .... So far, it has issued 13 warrants of arrest but has only four suspects in its cells while seven remain free. All the suspects in ICC cells are from Africa. They are Thomas Lubanga, Germain Katanga, Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, Jean Pierre Bemba and ex-Liberian President Charles Taylor, who is being tried under the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Among the most prominent suspects still on the loose is Uganda's Joseph Kony and Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. President Bashir, whose warrant was issued on March 4, 2009 over war crimes in Darfur, may prove to be the court's main Achilles heel. Since the warrant was issued, Bashir has visited five countries; Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Four major global organisations: the Arab League, the African Union, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, and the Non-Aligned Movement are all against the Bashir warrant. In diplomatic terms, the UN Security Council cannot ignore even one of these organisations. The worst scenario would arise if any of these groupings passes a resolution calling on their members to quit the ICC. In the Security Council, China and Russia have come out openly on the side of Sudan while France, Britain and the US want the warrant carried out...." ii."The Arab League and the ICC," Foreign Policy Association by Patrick Vibert, 5 April 2009, http://lebanon.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/04/05/bashir-assad-the-arab-league-and-the-icc/ "During the 2009 Arab League summit in Doha last weekend, there was much clamor made in support of Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir and his continued defiance of an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant in his name. Bashir is wanted by the ICC for his alleged role in the genocide taking place in the Darfur region of Sudan. He has been linked to the Janjaweed militia forces committing the atrocities there and has refused to disarm them. ..... Even if Mr. Bashir didn't give the orders for what has taken place there, it is still a disgusting way to run a country. Mr. Bashir has expressed no regret and has taken no responsibility for what is happening. This past week, Bashir travelled to Saudi Arabia to visit the holy city of Mecca in continued defiance of the ICC. The fact that he is even accepted by Saudi Arabia seems insulting to Islam's most holy city, and to the religion itself. Saudi officials must have considered this before granting him a visa, which makes his presence there even more alarming. At Doha, the Arab League tried to display a unified front, together questioning the ICC's credibility and jurisdiction. And they have a point. ..... The court is not perfect. First and foremost, it lacks enforcement capabilities. The court may issue warrants, but must wait until the accused is arrested in a country that has ratified the Rome Statute, of which many nations- including the United States and Israel- are not a party to. The court cannot issue a warrant and then just send the 'ICC Police' to make an arrest anywhere on the planet, and whisk the accused back to The Hague for trial...." iii. "Hold the Line on Bashir" by Elise Keppler (New York Times Online), 8 April 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/opinion/09iht-edlet.html?hpw "President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan has crisscrossed the Arab and African world recently in a bald-faced attempt to show strength after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. He chose Egypt, Eritrea and Libya as his first ports of call, then made his way to Qatar for the Arab League summit. These countries are among the minority of the world's nations that have not joined the International Criminal Court. Unlike the close to 110 that have joined, these governments have no legal obligation to arrest him on the court's behalf. They would do well to remember, though, that the Security Council has expressly urged even states that are not part of the court to cooperate. These countries and others that might open their doors Bashir might want to reconsider. Not only is he an accused war criminal, but in retaliation for the warrant, his government threatened the lives of Sudan's most vulnerable. Within hours after the I.C.C. announced its warrant, 13 key relief organizations that were supplying food and water to 1.1 million people and medical care to 1.5 million were ousted from Sudan. Bashir is not someone who should be welcomed, but someone who should be held to account. We can expect that someday he will face trial. When former presidents Charles Taylor of Liberia and Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia were indicted for war crimes while sitting as heads of states, nobody expected to see them in court. But that is what happened. International justice has increasingly shown that no one is above the law. The U.N. Security Council could suspend his case, but suspension will only encourage further abuses...." iv. "There's more to Sudan than Darfur," Citizen Times, by Khalid Mustafa Medani, 10 April 2009, http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200990402091 "A mere three weeks after the International Criminal Court indicted him on charges of war crimes committed in Darfur, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir embarked on official state visits to Eritrea, Egypt and Libya in open defiance of the court. The trips highlighted what most observers knew; it is unlikely that the Sudanese president will be taken into custody anytime soon. The court's decision to pursue a war crimes trial against a current head of state is an important historical precedent for the cause of international justice and a symbolic victory for the people of Darfur. But the problem for Sudan, and for the people of Darfur, is much larger than the president. Even trial and punishment for President Bashir would not temper the authoritarian nature of the Sudanese regime or halt the horrific violence against the Darfuri people. What is needed is vigorous international diplomacy to boost the prospects of clean general elections in 2009. ..... Understandably, the human tragedy of Darfur has eclipsed nearly all else in Sudanese affairs, and it may sound odd to speak of elections when the ruling party has monopolized political power for nearly two decades. One should not, however, underestimate the vibrancy and resiliency of democratic forces in Sudan. There are a number of popular opposition parties planning to vie for control of Parliament, including a range of Darfur-based parties. The ruling party of Omar al-Bashir will certainly win a majority in the next assembly, but the coalition in opposition could be considerably strengthened if regime vote-rigging efforts are kept to a minimum. ....The court's warrant for Bashir's arrest will have little effect in resolving the larger problem in Sudan: the lack of participatory politics. Only if this warrant is followed by a concerted effort to support free and fair elections will it fulfill its promise...." v. "Fear of fragmentation: A recent fragile peace is under threat," The Economist, 8 April 2009, http://www.economist.com/world/mideast-africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13447413&fsrc=rss "Hundreds of women and children were killed last month in Southern Sudan's province of Jonglei, either shot or run through with spears. Some locals put the toll at more than 700. Officials in Juba, the capital of the largely autonomous region of Southern Sudan, say the figure was lower. In any event, a fresh spate of killing now threatens the broad peace that the region has been enjoying-and could even upset the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, signed in 2005 between Sudan's mainly Arab government in Khartoum and rebels in the black African south who had waged a war of independence for most of the previous three decades. At first it seemed the killings were the result of routine cattle raids by Nuer warriors on the Murle, whom the Nuer accused of rustling thousands of cattle. Such raids usually end in a handful of deaths on either side. But the scale of the Jonglei killings, with the Nuer apparently riddling civilians with gunfire from weapons they were meant to have given up, has cast a pall of gloom over the south. It has not been lightened by the failure of the local Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) to intervene. There have been killings elsewhere in the south too. Some fear the north-south accord is near to collapse. ...[Southern Sudan's president, Salva Kiir, who is Sudan's national vice-president too] Mr Kiir wants to stamp out 'tribal spoilers' before national elections next year. Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, who was recently indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague for alleged crimes in Darfur, is nervous about the possibility of Mr Kiir running as a candidate for the national presidency, appealing to voters even in the Arab bits of the country. Mr Kiir has so far been careful not to voice an opinion on the ICC warrant but may try to use it to squeeze concessions from the north-on oil and the Nile waters, among other things-before a referendum in 2011, when the Southern Sudanese will be asked if they want to secede from Sudan to form an independent country, probably to be called New Sudan. This may put Barack Obama's administration on the spot. American lobbies have concentrated on Darfur, largely to the exclusion of Southern Sudan. A policy review headed by Samantha Power, one of Mr Obama's foreign-policy advisers, may be hard on Mr Kiir even as it endorses the ICC's effort to bring Mr Bashir to justice...." vi. "ICC has a moral duty to prosecute Bashir," by Dawn Nagar (IOL South Africa), 19 April 2009, http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=136&art_id=vn20090419103844129C601739 "A leader of government is elected by its people to ensure the growth and protection of the nation. The warrant that has been issued by the International Criminal Court for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in connection with the grave injustices that have been committed against his people, particularly in the Darfur region, where an estimated 300 000 people have been killed since 2003, should therefore come as no surprise. Peacemaking is not the job of the ICC, an international body established in the Hague in 2002 with a responsibility to protect victims of, and to prosecute perpetrators of, crimes against humanity. Its existence is based on that of a prosecutorial authority tasked with acting to deal with those who commit war crimes, and to prosecute those who condone genocide. As al-Bashir now stands accused, after 19 years as leader of a Jihadist government in Khartoum, of condoning the killing of civilians in Darfur, the ICC - through its Argentinean chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo - has exercised its moral duty to intervene. Since Sudan has not ratified the ICC's founding Rome Statute, it can be argued that the body has no business investigating war crimes in that country. However, article 13b of the Rome Statute indicates that, in cases in which war crimes appear to have been committed, they can be referred to the prosecutor by the UN Security Council...." ************************ CICC's policy on the referral and prosecution of situations before the ICC: The Coalition for the ICC is not an organ of the court. The CICC is an independent NGO movement dedicated to the establishment of the International Criminal Court as a fair, effective, and independent international organization. The Coalition will continue to provide the most up-to-date information about the ICC and to help coordinate global action to effectively implement the Rome Statute of the ICC. The Coalition will also endeavor to respond to basic queries and to raise awareness about the ICC's trigger mechanisms and procedures, as they develop. The Coalition as a whole, and its secretariat, do not endorse or promote specific investigations or prosecutions or take a position on situations before the ICC. However, individual CICC members may endorse referrals, provide legal and other support on investigations, or develop partnerships with local and other organizations in the course of their efforts. Communications to the ICC can be sent to: ICC P.O. box 19519 2500 CM the Hague The Netherlands